Articulated

Week 1 Review

My Chinese language learning website is nearly ready. I’ve had time to invest in it recently, and I got some useful feedback from friends who have previewed the site. Once it’s ready, I need to edit the existing content and prepare a generous amount of initial content for a proper launch.

Meanwhile, the first week of NFL games have been completed. I realized that I forgot to make a prediction for the winner of the San Francisco / Arizona matchup. Based on my feelings about those teams, I probably would have not expected the 49ers to upset the Cardinals, so I start at 0-1. Here are the other results:

• Steelers beat the Titans: and, just like last year, they play to their opponent’s level. Are the Titans that good? I guess we’ll have to see next week.
• Bengals lost to the Broncos: if not for that late game miracle, I would have gotten this one right. This is why they play the games.
• Texans lost to the Jets: Sanchez beat the odds, and the Texans still suck.
• Vikings beat the Browns
• Saints beat the Lions
• Colts beat the Jaguar: and I was right, it was close. It will be interesting to see how both these teams do in Week 2
• Ravens beat the Chiefs: the surprise here is how effective the Chiefs offense was.
• Cowboys beat the Buccaneers
• Patriots beat the Bills: but really, the Bills gave the game to the Patriots
• Panthers lost to the Eagles: and lost doesn’t even come close to describing it. Here’s the fun thing: could Vick become the Eagles starting QB?
• Giants beat the Redskins: and it should not have been as close as it was.
• Seahawks beat the Rams
• Bears lost to Packers: and it was an interesting game.
• Falcons beat the Dolphins
• Chargers beat the Raiders: and it was much closer than it should have been. What’s up with San Diego?

Well, I am a very respectable 11-5 for this week. That was much better than I did last year at any point. Maybe now that I can watch ESPN at home, I am learning something about sports.

Fantasy/football

Last night I was compelled to research the definition of “delusional”. According to Wikipedia:

Delusional disorder is a psychiatric diagnosis denoting a psychotic mental disorder that is characterized by holding one or more non-bizarre delusions[1] in the absence of any other significant psychopathology. Non-bizarre delusions are fixed beliefs that are certainly and definitely false, but that could possibly be plausible, for example, someone who thinks he or she is under police surveillance

WebMD also provides this definition:

Delusional disorder, previously called paranoid disorder, is a type of serious mental illness called a “psychosis” in which a person cannot tell what is real from what is imagined. The main feature of this disorder is the presence of delusions, which are unshakable beliefs in something untrue. People with delusional disorder experience non-bizarre delusions, which involve situations that could occur in real life, such as being followed, poisoned, deceived, conspired against, or loved from a distance. These delusions usually involve the misinterpretation of perceptions or experiences. In reality, however, the situations are either not true at all or highly exaggerated.

I point out this information not to make light of mental illness, but to illustrate the fact that there is a certain percentage of the nation’s population is clearly delusional. I site as my evidence the continued persistent belief that (a) our president is a socialist or Nazi and (b) that he is not a United States citizen. I could add additional examples but these two are sufficient. These delusions are unfortunately supported and encouraged by popular, “conservative” (read: “hate”) media that continue to reinforce the delusional architecture. I put the word ‘conservative’ in quotes because these media sources have only a minimal attachment to conservative politics. They are, in reality, sources of hate speech and incitements to fear, anger, and violence.

The radical right set out to create a media system for spreading their point of view. In the case of Faux (FOX) News and Rush Limbaugh, they have succeeded. However, they have also succeeded in creating a population of clinically psychotic individuals.

None of this is going to end well.

In lighter news, football season begins today. That means it’s time to demonstrate my ignorance about the sport by publishing my picks for Week 1. Here we go!

• Steelers over Titans: as much as I worry about the Superbowl hangover, I’m not going to go against my favored team.
• Bengals over Broncos: Denver is a disaster.
• Texans over Jets: I’ll go with the good odds and say the rookie QB is not going to win his first game.
• Vikings over Browns: Seriously? The Browns? Even Farve can’t mess this up.
• Saints over Lions: I think the losing streak will go at least one more game.
• Colts over Jaguars: This is a tough call, and I go with my heart on this one.
• Ravens over Chiefs: I think the dirty birds will be really good this year.
• Cowboys over Bucs
• Patriots over Bills: Unless Brady goes down again.
• Panthers over Eagles: welcome back to the NFL, Mr. Vick.
• Giants over Redskins: another close one.
• Seahawks over Rams
• Bears over Packers: I actually really want to watch this game. Could be interesting.
• Falcons over Dolphins
• Chargers over Raiders

In the words of Jack Napier’s plastic surgeon, “let’s see how we did!”

I am not Madden, redux

Okay, so this week didn’t go very well either. At 7-7, I improved a little bit, and some of the games were strange enough that nobody probably got them right. Consider:

• Tennessee loses to Houston: let’s see a show of hands for people who called that game correctly. Thank you. You’ve just identified yourselves as liars.
• Washington loses to Cincinnati: okay, so Washington is finished. There’s your proof.
• Buffalo loses to New York Jets: and they had this game in hand, too. I should have been correct there.

Enough of that. Maybe the lesson in all of this is I should not bother trying to call the games. Clearly I’m not going to get many of them right. At least I was right about Pittsburg. That was the game of the week for me. I saw some crazy stuff in that game.

Prognosticating is hard

Here we go again. Last week I was 6-8 in my picks for the Week 14 football games. I don’t know if I’ve learned anything from that experience. I guess we will find out this week. Here are my picks for Week 15:

1. Tampa Bay wins at Atlanta: the Falcons are playing at home and they are doing well this year, but Tampa is playing to keep up with Carolina and try to get that wildcard playoff spot.
2. Washington wins at Cincinnati: if the Bengals win another game this season I’ll be surprised.
3. Seattle wins at St. Louis: I am not intentionally picking all the road teams. Seattle is better than St. Louis. Almost every team is.
4. San Francisco loses at Miami: the 49ers have to travel, and Miami is the surprise this year.
5. Buffalo wins at New York Jets: I want to see Buffalo play spoiler to Farve’s season.
6. Detroit loses at Indianapolis: Manning will not let it happen any other way.
7. San Diego wins at Kansas City: this week’s “who cares” game.
8. Green Bay wins at Jacksonville: in the battle of two underachieving teams, I think the Packers will generate more offense. But it is hard to say. Either one of these teams could decide to fold up the tents and surrender.
9. Tennessee wins at Houston: I’ve learned my lesson. I’m not going to bet against Tennessee. Maybe they had their one “wake up” game for this season.
10. Minnesota loses at Arizona: the door remains open for Chicago. I think Arizona has the better offense.
11. Denver loses at Carolina: with Denver traveling and Carolina rolling, all signs point to a Panther Party.
12. Pittsburg wins at Baltimore: Baltimore looked really good last week for one half that then didn’t do much else. I think Pittsburg squeaks by this week.
13. New England wins at Oakland: please, this one is too easy.
14. New York Giants win at Dallas: I think I may be wrong about this one, but I believe in the Giants and think they have the better defense.

I am not Madden

It appears that my football knowledge is lacking. I went 6-8 with my picks. Some of my big mistakes:

• JAX loses to CHI: So it was a good day for Chicago after all. Go figure.
• HOU defeats GNB: I did not see that coming
• Both NY teams lose: Wow. It was not a good day to be a New York football fan
• BAL defeats WAS: Apparently, the Ravens are as good as their record.

I didn’t even bother trying to guess who would win the Monday Night game but I’m glad Carolina won. As a general rule, I cheer against teams from Florida unless there is a very strong reason to support them.

I’ll give this another try next week. Maybe this was a learning experience.

Prognosticating is fun

It’s a popular activity. I usually don’t participate, but everyone (including me) loves to predict what will happen in the future. This is especially true in sports. Today we enjoy the majority of the Week 14 American football games. Below are my picks (along with the line from ESPN.com):

• JAX at CHI (CHI by 6): I don’t have a lot of faith in Chicago. They have inconsistent all season. Jacksonville has underachieved. I think the Jags put a serious dent in the Bears playoff hopes today. Jacksonville wins.
• MIN at DET (MIN by 6.5): I am hoping to see the winless season. Minnesota took care of Chicago last week. They continue to roll. Minnesota wins.
• HOU at GNB (GNB by 7.5): Green Bay gets well by hosting/clobbering Houston. Green Bay wins.
• CLE at TEN (TEN by 10.5): Cleveland has played folks tough this season. They beat the Giants, took Indy to the end and put up some points on Baltimore before losing. They slay another giant today and beat Tennessee. Cleveland wins.
• CIN at IND (IND by 12): Only 12? Indianapolis wins.
• ATL at NOR (NOR by 1.5): This is going to be a good game. I’d like to call this one for Atlanta, but they are playing in New Orleans and it’s still a young team. I’ll go with the official line here. New Orleans wins.
• PHI at NYG (NYG by 8): The Giants bring Philly back down to earth. New York wins.
• MIA at BUF (MIA by 1): Miami continues the remarkable season and Buffalo continues to sink. Miami wins.
• KSC at DEN (DEN by 7.5): I want to call this one for Kansas City; they have pulled had a few surprises in an otherwise terrible season. Denver has played like a young team at times. Oh, why not. Kansas City wins.
• NYJ at SFO (NYJ by 7): No contest. New York Jets win.
• NWE at SEA (NWE by 7): It seems strange that the Patriots might not make the playoffs. I don’t care who was injured, this is a good team. I think they take another step towards the post-season today. New England wins.
• STL at ARI (ARI by 13): This week’s “who gives a crap” game. I don’t think the spread should be that big. St. Louis gives them a game and then gives up. Arizona wins.
• DAL at PIT (PIT by 2): Oh, this is going to be good. However, I don’t think Pittsburg is quite as good as Dallas when all is said and done. This game is like the 2000 SuperBowl with a great offense against a great defense. One big play will break them. Dallas wins.
• WAS at BAL (BAL by 7): The battle of the Beltway will be a close one. Somehow, I don’t really think Baltimore is that good. At least not 8-4 good. Washington wins.

Well, that’s it. Now let’s see how good I am at this.